Hildos in Mathhab

Mathhab 1 Mathhab2 Lebanese American University Major Theatre Production “مذهب” (Mathhab) Based on “Every Good Boy Deserves Favor” by Tom Stoppard’s and André Previn Translated, Adapted and Directed by: Lina Khoury MATHHAB is a tragicomedy based on Tom Stoppard’s play “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour”, written in 1977 alongside the music composer André Previn. The play concerns a dissident, who is imprisoned in a mental hospital, from which she will not be released until she admits that her statements against the government were caused by a non-existent mental disorder. In the hospital she shares a cell with a genuine mental patient, who believes herself to have an orchestra under her command. Integrated into the action, the orchestra underscores the frightening rigidity of totalitarian bureaucracy swiftly crushing the feeblest gestures of individuality in anyone who dares to play out of tune. The play is adapted by Khoury to take place in any part of the Arab world, and in every society that forbids and punishes any kind of freedom or individuality. Many themes emerge to the surface then, since oppression comes under different titles. The play tackles themes of political, artistic and gender oppression.

Written by

Hilda Abla aka Hildos is Lebanese-Armenian artist living in Brooklyn. She started her artistic venture when she was 5 at the children art program at Lebanese American University, through which she pursued her Bachelor of Fine Arts later on. She is also holder of a master degree in Marketing and Communications from ESCP-EAP and attended painting residencies at School of Visual Arts. She exhibited her art work in several venues in Beirut and New York City and was featured in several magazines such as New York Art Magazine and Art Fuse. She believes that art comes with a responsibility and a message and her latest commitment is directed to changing the way women view their bodies and themselves and ‘Seeing beauty in Imperfection’.